>A slight appeal to authority as to why you should read this. I think I nailed [Lauri Markenen](https://www.reddit.com/r/clevelandcavs/comments/pekw7p/lauri_markannen_an_inkblot_for_a_career_oc/) when we signed him. Written before he played a single game for us.
#What is a ‘Modern Glue Guy’?
The simplest answer is a player whose skillset compliments and accentuates the stars around him. For more specific details, read on.
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#Max Struss Background
Max was overlooked coming out of HS in part bc his profile as a player had dramatically changed, he went from a 5’9 soph to a 6’6 senior in HS while retaining his guard skills. He knew college teams had slept on him and chose a local DII school where his brother (6’10) was playing with a goal of playing in the Big East.
* Attended D-II Lewis University for two years
* Transfered to DePaul for final two years (18.6 PPG)
* Went undrafted
* Signed a two-way deal with Bulls, ACL injury cut rookie season short
* Heat offered him a two-way deal
* The next year they sign him to a 2 year deal with the big club
* Exceeds expectations and absorbs Duncan Robinson’s (whom had just been signed to a big deal by the Heat) minutes
* Balls out and earns a big FA contract with us
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#Max Struss Statistical Overview
* 6’6 215 lbs
* 27 yrs old
* 28 mpg on a finals team
* splits time btwn SG/SF but leans SF
* 56% on 2’s
* 35% on 3’s (41.9% in 2022)
* 87% from FT
* 53% eFG
* Catch and shoot guy **(86% of shots made were assisted, 95% of 3’s)**
* Made 45% of corner 3’s (absolute sniper)
Two things really stand-out to me from the above
* Max excels at positioning himself for a kick out pass off a drive (95% assisted on 3’s)
* unlike a lot of 3 point specialists he is very efficient on 2’s (56% on 2’s), takes and makes the right shots
But that is far from the whole story with him
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#Max is a fantastic Shooter
* one word comes to mind with Max’s shooting, efficiency
* career 53% efg for a spacing shooter is very impressive (Klay is a 55% efg for his career)
* with time [squares and rises with fantastic repeatable fundamentals](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfzxqTwKm-w&t=90s), continue watching this clip as the very next highlight shows him using a ‘sway’ step off the catch to get to his rhythm, he’s a pure shooter who doesn’t need the ball delivered to his shooting pocket
* [without time Max rises up and knocks down shots from many angles and body positions](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfzxqTwKm-w&t=145s), some shooters have to get in their rhythm (Robinson) others shoot outside of rhythm (Crawford, Bates)
* FTs ([Bruce Bowen aside](https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/bowenbr01.html)) have always been my #1 barometer of how good a shooter is, Max would have tied Donovan for best FT% on the team last year
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#Max is more than a Shooter
* Max is not a great individual defender, but he is a great defensive piece, he’s able to guard or switch 1 – 4 (not all PFs but a lot of the modern stretch PFs)…in today’s NBA that kind of versatility on defense is more valuable than a high end defender incapable of guarding more than their own position (think Pat Bev)
* Max wins with strength and solid positioning on defense, while not a bad vertical athlete it’s mostly based on positioning and anticipation
* Max has obvious strength, players bounce off of him at times
* Capable of [finishing in the paint on the fast break](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfzxqTwKm-w&t=45s) or [off an alley-oop](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfzxqTwKm-w&t=80s) which puts a lot of pressure on whoever is guarding him to stay attached at the 3 point line
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#Max’s impact on the Cavs
* The knicks squeezed the paint and suffocated Donovan the entire series, with no one to shoot their Forwards out of camping out in the paint our offensive identity stalled
* That defensive strategy was the focus of our offseason and why we signed two corner snipers in Niang and Struss
* Max’s ability to switch 1 – 4 (1 – 3 really well) means, we don’t have to worry about teams playing him off the floor on defense or attacking him via PnR to get him in foul trouble, he’s gonna be on the court and other teams are going to have to figure out another strategy
* I expect this the year to be when Mobley starts facilitating more, he has fantastic vision, but hasn’t had anyone to kick the ball out to like Max
* at the same time Allen/Mobley won’t have to cover for Max like they did Osman or Wade when we wanted more spacing, keeping our twin towers in the paint and our near top of the league defense much sounder and less exploitable
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#Projecting Max’s numbers next year
I see Max scoring a career high 15 PPG to go with 4 boards on good efficiency 41/35/88 as a starter playing around 33 MPG
If you read this all the way through, Thank You! What are your thoughts? I always appreciate the opinions on these posts and the insight from the bball heads of this sub.
by Abiv23
